Lawyer: Mubarak fears prison doctors want him deadCAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak's condition stabilized Tuesday but his lawyer said the 84-year old former president does not trust his doctors in the prison hospital and fears they are out to kill him. There have been conflicting reports about Mubarak's condition since a court convicted him on June 2 of failing to prevent the killings of protesters in the uprising that ousted him last year. He was sentenced to life in prison. Since his arrival at t...

UN: Food supply tenuous for two-thirds of NKoreansPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Millions of North Korean children are not getting the food, medicine or health care they need to develop physically or mentally, leaving many stunted and malnourished, the United Nations said Tuesday. Nearly a third of children under age 5 show signs of stunting, particularly in rural areas where food is scarce, and chronic diarrhea due to a lack of clean water, sanitation and electricity has become the leading ca...

Aussie coroner agrees dingo took baby in 1980 case CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians have overwhelmingly welcomed the final chapter of a mystery that has captivated the nation for 32 years: Did a dingo really take a baby that vanished from an Outback campsite in 1980? A nation that was once bitterly divided on whether baby Azaria Chamberlain had been dragged away by a wild dog or murdered by her mother now largely agrees that the parents deserve the vindication a coroner's court provided ...

Mexico City's main plaza jammed for Bieber concertMEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands of "tween" girls jammed a vast square with their parents and screamed in unison throughout teen superstar Justin Bieber's free concert Monday night, an event that was expected to draw 200,000 people to the historic center of Mexico's capital. Bieber opened with his hit song "Baby," while his adoring fans filling the city's main plaza sang along or shouted "Justin! Justin! Justin!" "Mexico City, there is a lot of pe...

Europe bailout of Spain could cost $125 billionMADRID (AP) — Spain became the fourth and largest country Saturday to ask Europe to rescue its failing banks, a bailout of up to €100 billion ($125 billion) that leaders hoped would stabilize a financial crisis that threatens to break apart the 17-country eurozone. The rescue offer follows growing pressure from international investors and the Obama administration and comes a week before elections in Greece, whose voters could decide whether th...

UN team sees massacre site in Syrian villageBEIRUT (AP) — U.N. observers could smell the stench of burned corpses Friday and saw body parts scattered around a Syrian farming hamlet that was the site of a massacre this week in which nearly 80 men, women and children were reported slain. The scene held evidence of a “horrific crime,” a U.N. spokeswoman said. The observers were finally able to get inside the deserted village of Mazraat al-Qubair after being blocked by government troops and...

Mob attacks women at Egypt anti-sex assault rallyCAIRO (AP) — A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. From the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement. The ...

Putin’s hard line against protests to be testedMOSCOW (AP) — Helmeted riot police round up hundreds of protesters, including some whose only apparent crime is wearing white ribbons of opposition. A teacher who spoke out about election rigging is dragged into court and fined. Now a new law signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday raises fines for participating in unauthorized protests 150-fold, to nearly the average annual salary in Russia. Putin has cracked down on the opposition since...

US gen apologizes for Afghan deaths in airstrikePATROL BASE PUL-I-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan offered a somber apology on Friday in an eastern province where officials say 18 civilians — half of them children — were killed in a coalition airstrike this week. U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen spent several hours with local Afghans to express his regrets about Wednesday’s pre-dawn raid to capture a Taliban operative in Baraki Barak district of L...

Six powers, Iran, remain split on nuclear issuesVIENNA (AP) — Iran and six world powers seeking to coax Tehran into curbing its nuclear activities appear to be coming to talks later this month without resolving the differences that scuttled previous rounds, according to recent letters exchanged between the two sides. One letter, shared with The Associated Press on Friday, shows Iran seeking an expert-level meeting ahead of the June 18-19 Moscow negotiations to “prepare the necessary ground ...

Spain’s ailing banks threaten country’s financesMADRID (AP) — Spain is under rising pressure to find a lifeline for its deeply troubled banks. Politicians in Europe and investors around the world are worried that the recession-hit country can’t come up with the money needed to save its banks without bankrupting the government. Expectations are rising that Spain’s leaders will have to seek an international bailout for banks crumbling under the weight of bad real estate loans. As Spain’s lead...

Annan blames Syria for peace plan failureUNITED NATIONS (AP) — International envoy Kofi Annan warned Thursday that Syria is drifting toward full-blown civil war and blamed the failure of his peace plan primarily on President Bashar Assad’s government. He urged the divided U.N. Security Council to threaten “consequences” if Assad doesn’t stop the violence. Increasingly impatient with the Syrian regime, Annan confirmed for the first time that his six-point plan is not being implemented...

Canada police: Notes found in body parts packagesMONTREAL (AP) — Police investigating the grisly killing of a Chinese student said Wednesday that mailed packages containing the man’s body parts also included notes. The case was discovered last week when Jun Lin’s left hand and left foot were mailed to Canada’s top political parties. The investigation spread to the other end of the country this week as more body parts were mailed from Montreal to two schools in Vancouver. Those parcels contai...

Mubarak’s health worsens amid political crisisCAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak’s health sharply deteriorated Wednesday, days after he was sentenced to life in prison, and specialists were evaluating whether to transfer him to a better-equipped hospital outside the penal system, security officials said. The deposed leader’s health scare added to the uncertainty engulfing Egypt, where powerful political groups are seeking to bar Mubarak’s former prime minister from the presidential runoff and der...

US, allies start work on transition plan for SyriaISTANBUL (AP) — The United States and its allies in Europe, Turkey and the Arab world have agreed to work on a political transition plan for Syria, hoping to persuade President Bashar Assad’s powerful ally Russia to join a broadened diplomatic effort to ease the embattled leader out of power, a senior U.S. official said. The push for a structured end to the four-decade Assad regime came late Wednesday at a closed-door meeting of foreign minist...

’Band of Brothers’ honored on D-Day anniversarySAINTE-MARIE-DU-MONT, France (AP) — With World War II-era military planes darting overhead and Normandy’s Utah Beach visible in the distance, a bronze statue emerged from beneath a camouflage parachute, in tribute to a man whose quiet leadership was chronicled in the book and television series “Band of Brothers.” The unveiling of the Colorado-made statue of Pennsylvania native Maj. Dick Winters was one of many events marking Wednesday’s 68th a...

After jubilee success, monarchy faces the futureLONDON (AP) — There were six figures on the balcony, three generations of royalty — and one large absence. Queen Elizabeth II’s appearance at Buckingham Palace with her family on Tuesday capped a triumphant Diamond Jubilee weekend for a British monarchy that has overcome years of crisis and seems secure in its subjects’ hearts. But the absence of 90-year-old Prince Philip — hospitalized Monday with a bladder infection — was a poignant reminder...

Human remains delivered to 2 Canada schoolsMONTREAL (AP) — Packages containing a human foot and hand were discovered at two schools in Vancouver on Tuesday, in what could be the latest gruesome twist in the case of a Canadian porn actor suspected of dismembering and eating his former lover. Police said they could not immediately confirm if the body parts in question were the missing extremities of Chinese student Jun Lin, whose hand and foot were discovered last week when they were mai...

Al-Qaida No. 2 dies in US drone strike in PakistanISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan has killed al-Qaida’s second-in-command, officials from both countries confirmed Tuesday, the most significant victory so far in the controversial bombing campaign and the biggest setback to the terror network since the death of Osama bin Laden. Abu Yahya al-Libi was considered a media-savvy, charismatic leader with religious credentials who was helping preside over the trans...

Solar-powered plane lands in Morocco RABAT, Morocco (AP) — An experimental solar-powered plane landed in Morocco’s capital late Tuesday after a 20-hour trip from Madrid in the first transcontinental journey by a craft of its type. With the wing span of a Boeing 777, the plane appeared out of the pitch darkness over the runway, suddenly turning on its lights and gliding to a landing in Rabat, its four propellers already still. “It was perhaps the most beautiful flight of my life, ...